My 55 gallon Tank

Hi all!

Below is a "journal" if you will of my first attempt at a saltwater tank. I hope you enjoy

Originally, I wanted the tank to put a couple of Green Spotted Puffers in. However, when I purchased it, there were already fish in it and as such I figured I'd keep them.

I didn't plan on doing any corals, but after seeing everything, I figured I'd give it a shot.

I'll save you the boring story of how I transferred everything from its original location to my house (about 45 minutes away), but below are some pictures and descriptions to go along:

Here is the tank as it was just placed in my house:


It was transported with what you see in it there.

Here is a picture of the pistol shrimp freaking out after the move (couldn't find him to put in a bucket so he stayed in the tank with the water and live sand):


Tank setup with 90% of the water back in it (transported all of the original water):


Everything in and up and running:


All cleared up the next morning:


My Cat (Sophie) discovering the tank:


My Daughter (Isabella) eating her puffs and watching the fish:


My 5" Maroon Clownfish (that my Wife and daughter call Big Bad Bob. I'm pretty sure it is a female though):


My Blue Damsel Fish. Sadly this guy is dead as the three striped damsel killed him:


My Talbot's Damsel Fish:


My Three Stripe Damsel Fish. He is by far the bully of the tank (although he doesn't mess with Big Bad Bob):


My Brittle Starfish. It is missing some arms now but still alive:


Full Tank shot after my first 50% water change and cleaning. As you can see, I removed half of the algae that was on the back:


One of my emerald crabs:


My Peppermint Shrimp:


My Orange Spotted Watchman Goby:


Second 50% water change! And almost all of the back cleaned:


One of the Turbo Snails:


A much better picture of my Maroon Clown Fish:


The first Hitch Hiker I found:


My Cleaner Shrimp:


My very first Coral (Zoa):




My second Coral (FrogSpawn):





One of my Scarlet Hermit Crabs:


This morning I took a look before work and for a second I thought I saw my Cleaner Shrimp in 2 places at once. After looking closer, I realized he had molted:



Here is the Sebae Anemone I added recently to the tank.



Seems to be doing pretty good so far.

When I first purchased the tank the salinity was around 1.014. I have since been doing water changes and it is now at 1.027. I will be lowering it back to 1.025 using my new RO/DI water .

I hope to keep adding corals and making the most out of this that I can. This is my very first attempt at salt water and so far things are going ok.

Here is a list of the equipment:

55 Gallon Tank
Magnum 350 Canister Filter
Aqua C Remora Protein Skimmer
300W Heater
Hydor Koralia 1
Hydor Koralia 2
Nova T5 HO Lighting
What looks to be about 80+ lbs of live rock. The previous owner said it was 10lbs, but as you can see from the picture it is more
Live Sand (Unknown Amount)


My next plan is to start a Pico here at my office and hopefully transfer from it to this tank as needed.

Lastly, here is a picture of my current livestock:

 

Looks great.!!!!

And yeah Bob is most likely a Betty.

 

Thank you!

The one thing I'm still messing with and trying to learn/figure out is best placement for the powerheads.

It is my understanding that the idea is to create a circular flow of water, but I'm not sure of the best placement for them. So far everything seems to be doing ok with them where they are at, but I am still curious if there is a better spot to place/position them.

 

Let the appearance of your corals be your guide.

As long as the surface of the water is agitated you are probably good.

A low pH might indicate not enough flow or surface agitation to facilitate gas exchange.

I would say though that in the future you may want to add more flow, by adding another power head or replacing one that you have with a higher gph rating.

I using Koralia 4 and 2 in a 28 gallon tank.

 

Ok. Thanks. So far all the levels are good. Will likely replace the smaller powerhead at some point. Hoping to find a good deal on one before upgrading LOL.

 

Nice build and also a nice picup you have also. Keep up the good work.

 

Forgot about keeping up with this one.

Here are a couple of pics of things added to this tank:

 

I recently got a coral order from Phil Your Aquarium - Cherry-Picked, Rare, and Aquacultured Live Corals: LPS, SPS, Inverts for Marine — Home

I decided to make an order after seeing the 25% off special. There were many nice WYSIWYG and I figured I'd give it a shot. The bleeding apple scoly that I wanted was in stock so I contacted Phil to see if he had any others.

Sure enough, he did have one. He said it was damaged a bit, but nothing too bad. Sent pics and as such, I added it to my purchase.

Here is the order after being un-boxed:

Acan Lord


Zoa's


Duncan


War Coral


Bleeding Apple Scoly


These guys were in the bag with the Acan:


Time for a CoralRx Pro Dip:


After the dip, they were placed in my 55g:

Acan Lord - Sorry about the blurry pic. Couldn't get a clear shot


Zoa's


Duncan


War Coral


Bleeding Apple Scoly


All in all I'm very happy with my purchase. The Zoa's had some red type of hair algae on them and the War Coral had a fuzzy white algae on it. My CUC devoured the algae on both.

The acan frag still has a bristle worm in it (didn't come out with dip and found it later). I will try to remove it later.

 

I wouldn't worry about the bristle. The colonies look healthy and large! How where the prices?

 

Looks great! But I thought you were trying to take it down?